Still Irritated

The more I think about the question my friend asked yesterday, the more I'm irritated by it. (For those of you just tuning in, the question was:)

When people who aren't writers suggest that if you hate certain parts of writing, maybe you shouldn't do it, do you want to wring their necks, or do you just think it's time to be less honest about your feelings?

Yesterday, I answered: wring their bloody necks. Today, I say: do it, twice. It's justifiable homicide.

Thing is, I suspect that one of the reasons my friend is getting this kind of dis is because she's at a place in her career that non-writers simply fail to understand.

For instance, I don't get asked this question, and, Goddess knows, I complain plenty. But, see, I get paid to write. You can complain about your JOB.

My friend is a working writer*, but she hasn't broken out in a way that non-writers get. There is no book spine with her name on it (not yet!) Thing is, there are people in my business who have won major science fiction/fantasy awards (like the Hugo) for short stories, and probably they get the same lack of respect this kind of question implies.

There's a really dismissive hierarchy in our business that we sometime even apply to ourselves that goes something like this: the only REAL writers are those with publishing credits. But to be really real, you need to have published a novel from a respected NY publishing house, and then better if you're a NAME, someone who has broken the NY Times bestseller list, gotten one of your novels turned into a movie, or is an actual, honest-to-goodness household name, ala Dan Brown, Stephen King, Stephanie Meyer or J. K. Rowling.

That whole thing is so self-destructive and, frankly, delusional in a way that's extremely harmful to our business and those who work in it.

When I was a working writer without publishing cred, I made a conscious decision to stop saying (when asked what I did), "Oh, I'm a secretary, but I'm really a writer." (or worse, "I really WANT to be a writer.") I started telling people, "I am a writer." When they asked the inevitable follow-up, "Oh? Are you published?" I said, "Not yet." I actually had someone walk away from me at that point in the conversation because he deemed me no longer worthy of his attention.

Not only is that rude, but it's also wrong-headed. I think people feel justified in dismissing working writers because of this inane idea that anyone can write. People think that because they speak English, they can write. They're wrong. Writing so that you can be understood is actually a very specialized skill. Writing a rip, roaring story with a beginning, middle and end is a phenomenally specialized skill. Anyone who has actually put their butt into a chair and started that "great American novel" realizes in a heartbeat just how difficult it is.

People who never have tried think it's easy, and therefor completely dismiss the working writer in the early stages of her or his career.

Other writers have been known to dismiss fellow working writers for the complete opposite reason, which is, because they know how hard it is to break in, they have no respect for anyone who hasn't done it (or, interestingly enough, those who fail to continue to do it as well.) For them, I think it's a knee-jerk (heavy on the jerk) reaction to "there but for the Grace of God," however, this response is also rude and wrong-headed.

* A writer is someone who writes. For me the definition of a working writer is someone who writes, finishes what they write, and sends it out. You have the right to call yourself a writer at any point in your career, IMHO. You should also have the right to complain about your job at any point in your career, IMHO, even if you haven't gotten a paycheck yet.

I know that, for me, one of the pivotal points in my career was when I joined the National Writers Union. I was suddenly surrounded by (mostly journalists, but) people who not only made some kind of living writing, but who also demanded to be paid a decent wage for it. This was an eye-opener for me, because previously, like most Americans, I tended to think of writing as something people just did for the fun of it. I thought I was savvy enough to understand that you didn't get paid very well to write and so I should always think of writing as my bit on the side, as it were. But the National Writers Union taught me the value of my work. I should demand pay for what I do, because it *is* a skill, like any other. You wouldn't expect a plumber to work for free; you shouldn't expect a writer to either.

Which is why, actually, I sometimes have a hard time with what I'm doing right now: blogging. With all due respect to my friend Jo Walton and her like-minded colleagues, I'm NOT one of those pixel-stained radicals that believes information wants to be free. Yet, I understand that the market demands it. I believe, however, that giving content away undermines my value as a writer. I think one of the reasons people feel free to dis my friend and all other working writers like her is because everyone *is* a writer these days. You can read a thousand blogs (and stories and novels, for that matter,) for free, and be fairly entertained. People work a lot harder on their blogs than you might think -- the good ones, anyway. All that labor is unpaid. I think that's a crime, or at very least a bloody shame.

If attitudes about writers changed significantly, I might feel differently. For instance, if people start respecting working writers regardless of a paycheck, then paychecks wouldn't matter.

But they do. I'm afraid, my friend, that money still gets the last word, and that is: you're not a real writer until you get paid to do it (and even then, only the really BIG paychecks count.)

Art isn't a Luxury

A fellow writer and friend of mine asked this question:

When people who aren't writers suggest that if you hate certain parts of writing, maybe you shouldn't do it, do you want to wring their necks, or do you just think it's time to be less honest about your feelings?

Wring their bloody necks!

As I told her privately, I think there's a bunch of things wrong with the basic assumption of this question. At the heart of it is the issue that, in this country at least, art of any kind, including writing, is considered a luxury. So, if you're complaining about something as trivial as all that, then you're being foolish. You should love your "hobbies" or not do them at all.

Bull (on so many levels.)

Number 1: hobbies are very worthwhile. In fact, if people didn't do cool stuff in their spare time, we wouldn't have gardens, volunteer corps, and any number of amazingly awesome things. But that's a whole separate rant....

However, the place it overlaps is here, in number 2, which is that because art isn't valued in our society, the only time people have to express their art is during their spare time. I wrote the first four novels I published in science fiction while working a full-time job. Why? Because writing doesn't pay the bills, EVEN WHEN YOU GET PUBLISHED. And you know what? I wrote for years before I got published, which meant I did it in between work, house cleaning, and, well, life.

Unlike most other professions (but similar to most arts), there isn't really a structure to follow to "become" a writer. If you want to be a brain surgeon, you go to medical school and can get loans and tons of support from society while you're learning your skill. Writers? Not so much. There's only a lot of crap you get from your non-writing friends while you're learning the craft of writing, such as the rude questions my friend is fielding. I mean, WTF? Would you tell a medical student to quit belly aching over her/his residency requirements? No. Why? Because being a doctor is something Americans see as a valuable profession. Writing is just some quirky luxury. Everyone needs a doctor; no one needs a book, a short story, or, god forbid, a poem.

Except we do.

People have always needed stories.

An Old Joke, but a Good One

This morning, while taking Mason to school, I had to stop the car to let a wild turkey cross the road on Summit near Victoria. I excitedly pointed it out to Mason, who looked up from his Pokemon book and said, "Huh, the chicken must have had the day off!"

My son, the comedian.

What She Said

Justine Larbalestier has a great blog about taking advice from people like me: How to Get Published? Dont' Ask me! Okay, she doesn't mean *me* specifically, but other writers (professional or otherwise) in general.

Support Groups for Writers

Every Wednesday, I get together with some women writer friends to, well, write. Although, to be honest, we tend to spend a lot of the time talking. Often we talk about our families or politics or funny YouTube videos, but sometimes we chat about the industry, writing process, and our own sense of what it means to "be" a writer.

Yesterday the theme was career arcs. Each of us is in a very different place. One of the women is "established." She wouldn't say so, but she's a NAME in science fiction/fantasy and has been writing and publishing since I was in diapers. There's me, a moderately successful mid-list author, and my other friend whose career is in a kind of crises. Like a lot of us, she started out strong with a number of well-received, NY published fantasy novels, and then the contract didn't get renewed, and it's been some time since she's had quantifiable success. She's written steadily despite the vote of no confidence, and is, quite understandably, reaching a breaking point.

I bring this up not to embarrass my friend, but because one of the things we all talked about is the importance of hearing other professionals tell their stories. I don't mean their fictional ones, but the ones about how they broke in, how they overcame career obstacles, and how they keep writing despite it all, you know?

There's a tendency when writers get together to have b*tch sessions about how the publishing industry screwed us, how stupid our editors are when they don't recognize our genius, etc. But I know that one of the most valuable things I did when I was desperate to break in, was find places where I could sit at the feet of professional writers and LISTEN.

In some ways, just knowing someone who has actually published professionally and seeing that they're a real, live person you can reach out and touch is HUGE. I know that when I was young, I thought that all writers lived places I'd never visit like in a Greenwich Village apartment in New York or in an artist's garret in Paris. One of the first time I met someone who wrote a book I'd read, it was at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival academy and I was wildly unimpressed (which, I actually think might have been a good thing, because, suddenly, I realized that real writers were real people and could be huge jerks and not just saints or otherwise untouchable heroes.) The second writer I met was the established writer mentioned above, when we both were members of the National Writers Union, and that meeting was similarly transformative but in a much more positive way. I had someone I could ask all those burning questions of (though I was scared to at first.)

Minnesota writers are lucky too, because we have so many local writers who attend the science fiction/fantasy conventions (which are also numerous) as well as strong romance and mystery writer organizations. There are readings all over for almost any flavor of writing -- including art/literary writing and poetry. There are so many resources in this town, it's easy for me to forget that a lot of other cities and towns don't have anywhere near what we have here.

But my point is (and I do have one), support during your career is critical. Having friends and colleagues to listen to (when you need to learn), complain with (when you need to vent), and strategize with (when your career hiccups -- and, believe me, it will) is incredibly valuable.

Make writer friends. Keep them. It's so important to survival.

I'm not sure, at the end of the day, we helped my friend. But we talked a lot of strategy and, probably more importantly, listened supportively. One thing I took away was that what we all could use in our profession is more stories about what to do when you hit speed bumps in your career.

Career stories always have something to teach us about the business. When you get a chance to -- listen. Hard.

Smart Things

I don't normally direct people way from my site, but I really liked this post (cribbed from Kelly's "Smart Things" post over at Wyrdsmiths) by Ruthanne Reid called "The Roaring Secret" about the secrets to breaking into publishing. Check it out.

Mythbusters, the Novel Edition

Jim C. Hines published the first part of his novel survey results over on LJ: http://jimhines.livejournal.com/496760.html. Check it out, it's fascinating stuff. I was surprised/not surprised how perfectly I fit the survey results. (I published exactly 1 short story before professionally selling my novel, submitted through an agent, etc.) Though it seems more people have sold fantasy, and more recently than me.... but all and all, very interesting.

A Cat and A Window

Over at Wyrdsmiths, Eleanor Arnason asked if there were things you, as a writer, feel comforted by or "need" to write. I thought about this question while I avoided writing (cleaned the dining room floor, changed the fish tank's water,) and I decided that what I need to write is a window.

As I noted in the comments, I've worked really hard over the last several years (particularly when I made the switch to becoming a full-time, stay-at-home writer,) to not NEED any talisman to write. I've trained myself to work at any time in any place. That being said, I think there are things that make me work better -- a rainy day, a cat on my lap, tea in my cup, and a window to glance out. The window, I find useful, in particular because when I'm composing I often look away from the screen to organize my thoughts. I think I think better when I get a look into the neighbor's kitchen or to rain drops spattering climbing rose stalks or something at least mildly pleasant (the snow melting, etc., although currently all the snow that's left are those horribly filthy black chunks.)

This is, of course, a luxury -- one provided for me by the fact that I can write at home, near a window. I wrote large chunks of several novels in a basement office cubicle, so, clearly, I don't NEED these things. But when I have them, they make the writing process more pleasant.

How about you?

Why Do You Hate Verbs, Artist?*

Last night I couldn't find the paperback novel I've been reading, so I picked up a book that I'd taken out of the library. It's by someone I consider a colleague and happens to be on the Nebula ballot this year.

I started reading it. Then I threw it down in disgust.

The plot sounds awesome. The prose is beautiful. But there is a distinct lack of verbs.

Why? For the love of God, why, I ask you, do people feel that it's artistic or atmospheric to have sentences (no, technically FRAGMENTS) without verbs? I absolutely hate that stylistic choice.

Though I've had this argument before -- and probably technically lost it the moment books without verbs were published and went on to win Nebulas and such -- I still maintain that writing without verbs is lazy. Yeah, yeah, poetry is built on lovely fragments. But novels aren't meant to be poetry, they're meant to be stories. Stories have action, and action words are verbs.

I'm okay with the occasional fragment, honestly, I am. But six or seven fragments to a page, not so much. (Note clever use of fragment for emphasis here.)

Seriously, as someone who writes first person almost exclusively, I understand the need to establish "voice" and it is true that people think in fragments. However, writing is artificial. Being in your head is too confusing; that is why I read your book. Writing is the process of making story make sense and pulling order from chaos. Part of that deal is providing the structure of sentences, which have a subject and a verb (though one can be implied on occasion -- usually the subject, not the verb.)

What I think bothers me most of all is that somehow this kind of sloppy writing has become a shorthand for "artistic." You drop a few verbs and people are all, "Wow, you're deep and meaningful." Except I suppose, more correctly, they'd simply utter, "Deep. Meaningful." because then there would be no verbs.

Why do you hate the English language so, Artistic Writer? WHY?

AAAAAAARRRRGH!

--- x-posted from Wyrdsmiths

To Do List

I feel much better after my brief bout of food poisioning, thank you. And now that the smoke has cleared, as it were, and Mason's vacation is over, I should probably take a moment to figure out what's on my to-do list.

1. Go over CEM of ALMOST TO DIE FOR, which is due March 16 on my editor's desk.

2. Review and comment on Kelly's proposal (chapters and synopsis) for Wyrdsmiths on Thursday night.

3. Finally make .pdfs of all my recent novels, as requested by my agent, as well as make .pdfs of the promotional postcards and bookmarks for my up-coming releases so I can send them off to the printer.

4. Continue work on "darker" proposal for my editor, who passed on the lighter cow mutlilation mystery (baffling!) to send off to my agent next week.

5. Review and consider whether or not I really have a story in the short bit I started about the space prositute, currently called "Cold Chrome." (Not sure. As previously noted, I'm a horrible short story writer. They actually take a long time for me to write because I'm terrible at figuring out structure for shorter works.)

6. Get started on the sequel to ALMOST TO DIE FOR which is due in four months.

I think that's everything on my plate right now. Luckily, a lot of them aren't super critical. I mean, I can set aside the promotional stuff for a few weeks, but I really do need to get going on both the proposal and the sequel for my editor. Obviously, I'm going to start with the stuff due first -- the copy-edited mss. and the "homework" for Wyrdsmiths.

Boy, when I look at it like this, I have a lot on, don't I?

CEM ALMOST

Of course, today, when I'm sick as a dog, I get the note from my editor's assistant that they're sending along the copy edited manuscript of ALMOST TO DIE FOR, which needs to be back on their desk on March 16.

The problem (and plus) of having so many books coming out in one year is that there's a lot of stuff that needs to get done -- all of it, right now. I spent much of the day in bed, but then, after I saw the note, I had to pull myself out of bed and try to be upright for a while -- at least long enough to download the mss.

Blurg. Pity, party of one!

What I Should Be Doing...

What I should be doing is starting work on either a proposal (of a darker variety) for my editor or beginning the sequel to ALMOST TO DIE FOR. Instead, I've been goofing around on a short story.

Remember how I said that it's a bad idea to write to market? But that I also understand the impulse because I tend to get caught up in anthology descriptions? Well, I was looking for a home for a short story of mine that I wrote some years ago at Ralan.com, and as I often do, I started wandering through their anthology section. I came across a bunch that totally caught my eye and flared up my imagination. One is looking for stories about prostitutes, another wants stories about being the last [fill-in-the-blank] on earth, and yet a third is looking for space opera. So, I said to myself, hey! What about a story about the last gigolo in space??

So I started it, but I'm terrible at short stories.

I think all the things that make me pretty good at writing novels make me fairly awful at short stories. I tend to start with a simple idea and before I know it six or seven threads have spun out. A short story should really focus on one or two, I think, to be successful. (Although, honestly, what would I know?)

I'm about two thousand words into this short story ("Cold Chrome") and it's already spinning out of my control. But I'm going to keep writing on it until I stop having fun... or Monday comes, whichever happens first. (Monday is my deadline to get back on track with all my writing work, as Mason is finally back in school.)

Tonight, I'll be at MarsCON starting at 6:00pm. See all you local folks there!

Getting Desperate

Yesterday, in the middle of the afternoon, I was hit by a craving. Was it for chocolate? No. Was it for Doritos? No. Was it for a trashy novel? No.

All I wanted to do was write.

But, alas, Mason is still off school for another couple of days. And, wouldn't you know it, my usually fairly self-sufficent child had one of those days when he really just wanted to hang with his ima. I held off until late night, and then... had no energy. I wrote a paragraph and then completely pooped out.

Luckily, I still kind of have the itch this morning, and Mason has decided to watch TV. So, without further ado, I'm off to scratch, as it were!

What I Did On Winter Vacation

This is Mason peeking out of the gigantic snow fort we built in our backyard over Mason's winter intersession break. (For those of you just tuning in, my son goes to a year round school, and doesn't have traditional summer vacation, but, instead, gets months off in different times of the year [inclucing summer, just not all three months.])

Garnet in Paperback?

I'm not sure how official this is, but I just heard from my editor that the Garnet Lacey books have been "bought" in-house by Berkley Sensation for release in a mass-market paperback edition. I guess the tentative date for the first book to hit the shelf is December of 2011.

I have no idea if they'll have new cover art or what, but I think this is pretty awesome news. I'm a big fan of the paperback size books, myself, so yay!

Also, I've run out of newbie questions to answer. Anyone out there have any questions you'll like me to answer? The more the better! Otherwise I'm going to have to make some questions up....

A Book Recommendation

A friend of mine is getting a submission package ready for an agent, and it occurs to me that I should share the book recommendation I gave her to everyone:

YOUR NOVEL PROPOSAL: From Creation to Contract by Blythe Camenson and Marshall J. Cook.

Every time I sit down to write a proposal I review this book's chapter six: synopses (which, since much of the other information gets out-of-date quickly, is worth the price of the book). The book gives sample synopses, talks about what needs to be in a synopses, what it's used for, and how to format a synopsis. It's really awesome. It seems to be out of print, but I had no trouble getting a used copy a few years ago when I thought I lost my original.

I liked this book so much, I bought it twice! :-)

Web Site Updated

This hardly constitues breaking news, but I finally found time today to update my web page. There's now an excerpt of HONEYMOON OF THE DEAD available, as well as order information for ALMOST TO DIE FOR and the German edition of TALL, DARK & DEAD.

Newbie Question #22

22. I’m pretty nervous about writing my book and trying to get it published. I guess I don’t have much for self-confidence when it comes to this. Do you have any advice?

Unfortunately, Shelly, I think the one thing aspiring authors need is an abundance of self-confidence. Your belief in yourself and your writing is what is going to get you through those rough rejections that can feel so incredibly personal.

But even if self-confidence doesn’t come easily to you, I think there are things you can do as a writer to help bolster your belief in yourself and your abilities.

1. Always remember that writing is a learning process and, like any craft, it’s going to take time to master. Be in it for the long haul. People like to talk about talent, but I think the idea that some people are born writers (or painters or whatever) is a destructive, hurtful myth. You can learn to be a good writer, and, no matter how long you’ve been writing, you can always improve your craft. Even with nearly twelve published novels under my belt, I’m still learning – and, more importantly, I still stumble and fumble a scene or a character or a bit of plot. That’s why I still go to a bi-monthly writers’ critique group and listen to what my peers have to say when I hand out my chapters. (1 a.) Similarly, you should strive for it, but don’t sweat perfection. You can never write the perfect book for everyone. Someone somewhere is going to bounce off your work. Just write the best book or story you can at this moment, finish it, and send it off. Then go on to the next one with what you learned from the last. (1 b.) Hopefully, you love the learning process as much as I do, because this process should be fun. If possible, it should be one of the main parts of what feeds and drives you forward.

2. Dance on your rejections. Just yesterday I went to a party at a friend’s house where he was celebrating his first official rejection for his novel. As he put it in his invite, he’s now officially “in the game.” This is a healthy attitude, because as the old adage goes “persistence is more important than talent.” (I might not believe in the myth of talent, but I do believe persistence pays off.) I also believe in celebrating every moment of writing. I’d have a party for finishing, party for sending it out, a party for the first rejection, and, of course, a huge blow out if it ever sold.

3. Cultivate supporters. In order to have a party for every step of the way, you need to have people in your life who will show up to toot your horn (and listen to you whine.) Find other writers – on line or in person. Having fan friends or lovers is good for the ego to a certain extent, but only another writer will really understand all the ins and outs of “rejectomancy” (my friend Kelly McCullough’s word for the practice of trying to figure out how close you got to the editor’s desk by overanalyzing obscure clues – the yellow form letter? Blue?) If you’re a romance writer, join RWA. It’s an amazingly supportive organization. If you’re a mystery writer, join Sisters in Crime or Private Eye Writers of America or whatever local group you can find a chapter for. Science fiction writers have SFWA. If you can’t find a writers’ group, find a readers’ group at your local bookstore… or, if you live somewhere too small to support any of that, find a critique group on line. And remember that it goes both ways – you need to support your writer friends too!

4. Write for yourself. It’s tempting, particularly in romance (though I fell into this trap in science fiction too,) to try to “find the market and write to it.” I love to read descriptions of themed anthologies, but every time I sit down and try to write a story aimed at a specific market, I fail. I usually just can’t find that “spark” that keeps me going. Other people’s ideas aren’t mine. If I’m going to write, it needs to be important to me – my stuff, my ideas, my obsessions, my weirdness. If I’m writing about themes that matter to me, or about the things that make my juices flow – well, that first big hurtle of putting my butt in a chair becomes that much easier, you know?

I think if you can cultivate these four things, you’ll go a long way. If nothing else, you’ll be happy doing whatever it is your doing, no matter if you achieve traditional success or not.

Newbie Question #21

21. Do you have any favorite authors? Books?

Do I? OMG, do I.

Even though I'm a very slow reader (dyslexia), I read all the time. Some of the good ones that I finished lately are:

Cherie Priest, BONESHAKER

Neil Asher, GRIDLINKED

Daniel Key Moran, THE LONG RUN

But, beyond that, I'm reading a lot of my local authors too -- my fellow Wyrdsmiths who have books out are Naomi Kritzer, Kelly McCullough, Eleanor Arnason, and Doug Hulick (forthcoming). I could probably go on and on... and maybe over the weekend, I'll compose something a little less off the top of my head of people I'd recommend.

Newbie Question #20

20. What is the hardest part of writing for you? The easiest?

Sometimes the hardest part for me is the actual sitting down to write bit. But, after I've conquered the sheer discipline of making time and space in my life to write, I find plot the hardest.

This is one of those reasons why I tell my students to have some kind of plan before they write -- that's MY problem. If I don't have a plan/plot outline, I would very happily have my characters meander through a sort of endless soap opera. There would be a lot of drama, but no real movement forward, you know?

As I said at a talk I did at the public library on Sunday, I'm pretty good at dividing threads of plot, complicating things, making my character face hardships that require them to consider "what's at stake?" -- but I have a harder time pulling bits back together and tying up all the story lines. If I don't pre-think those aspects of plot, I can get really tangled up.

The easiest part is characters. I'm one of those people who have always shared a large percentage of my brain with imaginary friends. When it was socially acceptable to do so, I roped my friends into playing complicated games with superheroes (and their Barbies) and other kinds of pretend. When it became awkward to ask people to romp in the woods pretending to be knights and princesses, I started keeping those people in my head. There's only so much room in my brain, so they quickly dribbled out onto notebook paper. This is all that practice writing I talked about, but which I sometimes still do as I'm falling asleep at night.

Almost all of my characters have lived in my head for some time (some for years -- I had Sebastian since high school) before they appear on page. I think this is why I sometimes get the comment that my characters seem very three dimensional. They have an entire life already lived before they even become text in a book.

Newbie Question #19

19. Do you typically do a lot of research for your books?

I do... though the process is very different if I'm writing science fiction or if I'm writing fantasy/romance.

Remember earlier how I said that a good writer should be reading stuff all the time? When I'm writing science fiction, those things I've read in the past are often at least partially responsible for the germination of the idea of whatever I'm writing (novel or a short story.) Kind of like unfocused, pre-research. :-)

Science fiction often requires a person to have friends in specialized fields. I actually think that it's very difficult (though some do it very well) to write in your area of expertise. Physicists often make crappy science fiction authors because they know too much about how things really work and they have a hard time breaking outside of what is TRUE, acceptable or fact. Apparently, William Gibson famously wrote his cyberpunk novel NEUROMANCER on a typewriter. Often I think it's best if you know "just enough to be dangerous."

Because out there just beyond what is true, acceptable and fact is where the fun stuff lies. Here there be Dragons....

On the flip side, I think that books (science fiction or fantasy) come alive when you fill them with the bits of arcane knowledge you've gleaned over your lifetime. Like all those mysteries where the heroine is a knitter or a scrap booker or what have you, and your reader gets a glimpse into the life of whatever it is you're into. Because people read for a lot of reasons -- escape, yes, but to experience someone else's life, more, IMHO.

So it really helps make a book have life if you can offer up real bits of things. I once took a gun safety course so I could feel what it was like to shoot a big old gun as a smallish five foot something woman. People always talk about recoil, but I didn't experience it the way I was expecting and so being able to have an actual sense impression of spent casings (particularly smell), etc., I think added an extra dimension to my description. This is also, btw, how you avoid cliches in your writing. Cliches are shorthand for experiences, and if you have something different you can point out about something people have read a thousand times... it breaks through cliche.

Plus, research is fun. Just don't let not knowing stop you from writing. Find someone who knows what you want to know and talk to them, read books by people who have experienced things you want to know about, live a little, and then, make some sh*t up.

Newbie Question #18

18. How long did it take to publish your first book?

It typically takes a year from delivery of the manuscript to my publisher before it hits the shelves ready for you to read.

But, again, I think that's not really the question you're asking. I think what you want to know is how long did it take for me to sell that first book I finished.

Here's some bad news. I never sold the first book I finished. I worked on that novel (Sidhe Promised) for four years. I put it through workshop/critique group; I sent it to a dozen or more agents; I entered it in contests. It never sold.

I still think it's a pretty good book, but it just wasn't the one that broke out. It's in my basement in a file cabinet. Taking the advice of Lois McMaster Bujold who I interviewed at an event at a Barnes & Noble, I started the next book while that one was shopping around. (Her point? It takes a long time for editors and agents to reject you, you might as well do something other than twiddle your thumbs.) So I started writing a science fiction novel I was calling "Dancing on the Head of a Pin" about some angels and a private detective.... it took me about a year and a half to write that one. It later became my first published novel, Archangel Protocol.

The process of what happened once I convinced an agent to represent me is chronicled in my alter ego's FAQ.

Newbie Question #17

17. What should my manuscript look like?

There's a lot of debate about this (much more than you'd expect, and people can get really wound up about it.) HOWEVER, it is my contention that knowing manuscript format *is* the very secret handshake that everyone is looking for.

Science fiction author Vonda N. McIntyre has made you a lovely .pdf in manuscript format that explains manuscript format. People like to argue about this. Do I have to? Courier is ugly! So and so says I can send it however I like on their website. To which my answer is always: suck it up and send it in manuscript format. If nothing else, sending it the "old-fashioned" way shows that you're at least familiar enough with the business of writing to have stumbled across the way everyone used to do it.

The exception being in those rare cases when you're writing for a specific market (I'm thinking of an electronic magazine, like weekly science fiction magazine, Strange Horizons,) which may have it's own rules. In those cases, do what they say.

I confess that I don't much like the way Courier 12 pt, double-space looks either. So I write the book in whatever my current favorite font is (Georgia) -- single space (because it looks more like a book to me, and I just find it more attractive. I've got to stare at it for months, after all). Then, just before I send it in to the publisher I switch over to Courier 12 pt, double-space.

This is one really simple thing you can do to look professional. Why not just do it?

Newbie Question #16

16. Have you ever doubted yourself while writing? If so, how do you get over it?

I doubt myself all the time, just ask the folks in my writers' group. I constantly complain that I don't know what the f**k I'm doing or that my stories suck, etc., etc. I get over my doubt by tapping my support network -- my writers' group and my partner. (Because, if nothing else, my partner will say these magic words: "We need the money." Works for me every time. :-)

But I think this is actually a question about writers' block, which is I think a more delicate and harder question to answer.

There are a lot things about this business that can freak people out to the point that they can't write. Most of the really hard ones, IMHO, come after you publish that first book, but there are a few potential killers early on.

One of the reasons I find writers' critique groups of any kind (in-person or on-line) so vital to a writer's career is because they help prepare you for the first and foremost challenge to your ego, and that is: criticism.

People are going to hate your precious babies your entire career. They just are. (I just stumbled across a rather nasty review of Tall, Dark & Dead just today.) But, before you have the cache of a New York publisher's approval, rejection is even harder to take.

If you can't handle criticism or rejection, surviving as a writer is going to particularly difficult. My advice is to find a writers' group and practice taking those slaps in the face and pulling yourself back up on your feet. It's a skill set you're going to use all the damn time.

The other big one you're going to face is rejection. Publishers (and literary agents) are going to turn you down, early and often. It may take several years and dozens of books before you break in. This is why it's important to love what you do. If you like to write, it's easier to pick up your keyboard after you have that big huge weep fest after the sixteenth rejection for your beloved book comes in the mail (when you were SURE this would be the one).

My advice is to practice this attitude: "OMG,I suck; Damn, I'm a genius!" Seriously, I think you have to be a bit unstable to be a good writer. You have to be able to accept that you suck (so you can LISTEN to critique and learn from it), while simultaneously believing you are the best writer who ever lived (so you can get the morning after a crushing critique/rejection and write once again).

The other things that I, personally, found nearly crippling is the stuff that happens after you publish. The first negative review hurts. There will be one and it will feel horrible. You'll believe every word (when, ironically, you didn't believe a word of the praise in the positive reviews.) If you're me, you'll memorize the meanest thing the reviewer wrote and be unable to forget it. Ever. Ask me if we ever meet. I can still give it to you verbatim.

The other thing is what I call "second book-itis" or pysch out. After the adrenaline rush has coursed through your veins after the sale of that first novel, you suddenly realize you're contracted for another book THAT PEOPLE ARE ACTUALLY GOING TO READ. If you're like most authors, you probably lived with that first novel for years before anyone bought it. You had lots of time to massage it and make it the best novel you possibly could. Usually, too, the publisher has contracted you for another book -- either a sequel or something else. Either way, you're sitting down to write that next book (usually before the first one has come out) and, if you're me, you're absolutely frozen by the idea that it could really, really SUCK and kill your career before it's even started.

That one is the hardest one for me. I don't have any good advice except to say that you'll just have to push through. I tend to get over the "OMG people are going to read this" thing (which I often still get) the same way a lot of actors get over stage fright. I lie to myself. I tell myself that no one is going to read the book but me and maybe my editor. I trick myself into believing this by writing most of my book in something other than manuscript format and in a file named something like "New stuff."

I'm sure there are other reasons people get hit with writers' block, but these are the ones I've dealt with. What about the rest of you out there? What freezes your brain?

Newbie Question #15

Does this process ever get easier?

Parts of it do, but on the whole, not really, no.

For me, every book is a new learning process. I never really have seemed to settled on "how to write a book." And, there's always some point at which I have an ah-ha moment that you'd think I'd have learned years ago.

BUT, that being said, there are a lot of things that do get easier. For instance, I no longer blink at the idea of writing 2,000 words in a day. Sitting down and getting started isn't the chore that it used to be (of course part of that may be because it's my job now in a way that it wasn't before, but I do find that a blank page no longer fills me with a low-grade terror.) I'm not scared I'm going to write myself into a corner. I trust my characters, my instinct, my story-telling, my audience.

One of the most helpful things about writing that I ever read was this idea of "killing your Muse." Stephen King wrote in his book On Writing that if you sit down to write every day at the same time, your Muse will find you. And you know what? He's right. For me, it doesn't have to be the same time of day any more (thank Goddess), but it does have to be every day.

My friend and fellow writer, Naomi Kritzer, and I have talked about the fact that if you get out of the habit of writing something every day, even as professional writers, it can be very hard to start up again.

When I first started writing, I set myself a very minor word count goal. I told myself I needed to write at least 425 words every day. I don't know where I pulled that number from, but it used to sit on my desk. I didn't always make it, life being what it is (and I had a full-time job then). But it was a good discipline to shoot for that. The more words on page, the more progress made.

Also, it helps to know that some days are just hard... for everyone. I interviewed Neil Gaiman for Science Fiction Chronicle several years ago, and one of the things he said that really stuck with me is that he had days when writing was really difficult, but when he looked back at the words he couldn't tell which were the hard ones to write and which flowed like honey from his fingertips. Words are words and words on page are progress forward.

So, no, things don't necessarily get easier, but writing every day helps.

Newbie Question #14

14. How & why did you become a writer

“Why” is a lot easier to answer: I became a writer because I write, which is to say that there’s a pretty high percentage that I’d be writing stories right now even if I had never sold that first professional piece (or, god forbid, never sold another one again.)

Hopefully, that’s the reason you’re a writer too. Because if you’re in it for the fame, the glory, or the wads of cash you imagine you’ll be getting, you’re going to be wildly disappointed. I mean WILDLY.

Writing is a job. It’s a really hard job to get, and it’s an even harder job to keep. If you love doing it for its own sake, well, at least no one can take that from you, you know? Just the other day, I was hanging out with some writer friends at a coffee shop where we’d all gathered to work together, and we were all engrossed in our writing. Every once and a while one of us would pop up and excitedly share some clever or funny line she’d written, and I thought, “damn, but this is the life.” I’m a writer because I love writing. The act of writing can make me really happy. I amuse the piss out of myself. In the book I’m working on now, I’ve written so many scenes where I think, “Wow, that is _so_ just for me.” That might not seem the best attitude when you’re trying to sell commercially, but I think, actually, it’s quite healthy. Because at the end of the day, you’re writing for yourself. If you can’t take pleasure in your own words, what the hell is it for, anyway?

“How” I became a writer has two parts. I started writing in middle school when I was also, not surprisingly, devouring books by the shelf-full. I got particularly into one series by and author (Katherine Kurtz's DERYNI boosk) who was publishing at the usual timetable of a book a year. I just couldn’t wait. I started making up what I was going to happen to my favorite character in-between books. This is what’s called “fanfic,” but I grew up before the age of the Internet so no one ever saw what I wrote but me and the zillions of notebooks I filled.

I did this also with Anne McCaffery's DRAGONRIDER series. So I did a lot of what you could call practice writing. I used someone else's well developed characters and world, and practiced dialogue and scene setting and plotting (although at first most of my stories were very soap opera-like). This writing was pretty dreadful. BUT it was a good start at learning the craft of writing.

I did this sort of practice on-and-off throughout my life until sometime after college, when it occurred to me that a person could take a class in writing science fiction and fantasy. (By this point, I should note, I'd mostly begun trying out original characters/stories.) I've chronicled what happened after that on the FAQ page of my alter ego's website.

Newbie Question #13

13. Will an agent expect me to sign a contract? Should I sign one?

You know, honestly, I don't really know. I know that I requested and signed a contract with my first agent, and I didn't with my second.

This is also one of those questions that may be different depending on the genre you write in. There seem to be to be a lot more "handshake contracts" in science fiction/fantasy, though I'm not saying this is necessarily a better thing.

A contract with your agent is, however, very likely a GOOD THING. It's wise to have certain things spelled out in black and white, particularly if you've never entered into this kind of relationship before. It's good to know, for instance, under what conditions you can terminate your relationship with your agent (and visa versa.)

I think just as critical is to have a conversation in which you discuss beforehand what sorts of things your agent will and won't do for you. Will they share rejections? Will they give editorial advice? How often can you expect to hear from them?

Those things won't be spelled out in a contract, but they're good to know for your own sanity.

Newbie Questions #11 & #12

11. How do I know which agent is best for me?

12. How much should I expect to pay an agent to represent my book?

Last one first: NOTHING.

Remember the rule that money always flows to the author. A literary agent works the same way a real estate agent does, which is to say that you should pay nothing until the book sells. Then, you can expect to pay a percentage of that sale. When I was agent hunting in the late Cretaceous that percentage was 15%, now-a-days it could be slightly more, but not significantly so. (The exception is foreign sales -- since your agent has to pay sub-agents – but that’s nothing to worry about until a foreign sale happens.)

If your perspective agent charges a reading fee, I say that agent isn’t for you. There may be legitimate reasons why an otherwise reputable agent might charge reading fees, but to me it’s a big red flag that says “run away, run away fast.”

Keep repeating the mantra: money always flows to the author.

As for finding a good agent that fits you, that will be a more personal decision. In the end, you should consider the fact that your agent is your face in the professional arena. After that, it becomes a matter of taste.

For myself, I don’t like agents that edit. Even though my first agent was also a consulting editor, he never asked me to do editorial changes before submitting my work to publishing houses. I like that. It’s my personal feeling that if someone wants me to significantly rewrite a novel, I want to be paid to do so (remember the mantra!)

I also don’t need my agent to be my friend. In fact, I prefer a shark. Someone who I know will go for the best deal possible, even if it means not being terribly nice.

On that note, I do want an agent who is excited about my work. When I was in the process of finding a second agent (the first changed career to be a full-time editor,) I talked to a lot of agents. I had one offer to represent me. It became clear, however, that this agent hadn’t really read my work. Even though it meant being agentless for longer than I would have liked, I told him I wasn’t comfortable having an agent who wasn’t 100% into me. Your agent has to be your go-to guy/gal, your advocate, your nag… someone who e-mails you to say, “what have you got!?” If you’re not on their radar, then it’s easy to be forgotten… and this is your career on the line. You need someone who is going to be with you through good times and bad… because there’s always some bad in this business, I’m sorry to say.

Speaking of being “on the radar,” I think a case can be made for having an agent in New York. I also think that a case can be made that it doesn’t matter one wit. Perhaps the bigger issue is the size of the agency. We all want to have the Big Name Agent (you know the one who wrote the book on writing a bestseller) represent us because just throwing around his name is impressive as hell. However, I’ve had friends get lost among the various cogs in that particular machine. My experience has been that it’s much better to be part of a smallish stable. Ideally, you can end up where I am, which is to have a big name agent in New York who has a relatively smallish, but impressive client list… or at least never makes me feel less than an A-lister (even if I’m really a C- or D-list writer. And, no, that’s not false modesty. I have no delusions that I’m anything other than a solidly mid-list author.)

You should also find an agent with a track record. It might be great to be someone’s start up client (and I actually know people who have had that work out great for them,) but it’s a safer bet to go with someone established in the business. Because this is a business where it helps to know people who know people… and a completely new agent is less likely to have those connections.

But this is really a matter of taste. There’s nothing wrong with trying to land the biggest name agent (in fact, I always tell students to start at the top and work your way down.) There’s also nothing wrong with having an agent who edits all your work, holds your hand every step of the way, and has an office in Peoria. As long as you are comfortable with the relationship you have and your agent is finding you work, I say do what you will.

My last note is this: don’t hesitate to say no and be picky. It’s tempting to go with the first offer, but you’ve got to believe in yourself. Believe that what you’re doing is worth being paid for, and that this is an important job that not anyone can do. Don’t sell yourself short.

Newbie Question #10

10. How do I go about getting an agent? Where do I look for one?

The first piece of advice I want to give is this: finish your book first!

Now, assuming you've followed the above, finding an agent is an arduous process, but the single most important thing you're going to do as a writer (besides write the best book possible.) There are a few things you can be doing while you're writing your book, and they are --

1) read books you like and keep notes of any names listed in the acknowledgements; 2) subscribe to professional magazines <(for science fiction writers, Locus Magazine/ for romance folks, Romantic Times) and check listings to see who is selling what/who. In Locus, you can easily see which agents are selling a lot and a lot of new authors -- make special note of those names; and 3) attend conventions.

In science ficiton, there are plenty of panels where you can go and listen at the feet of actual agents and ask questions about the sorts of books they're selling, etc. In SF/F, however, DO NOT harass any agents or attempt to give "elevator pitches" unless specifically asked. Romance writers have it a little easier. At the romance conventions, you can actually sign up to pitch prospective agents and there are workshops you can attend to teach you how to do so effectively. (Note: you can find a list of conventions in the professional magazines listed above. SF/F writers could attend a convention every weekend, if they had the money and the time. Romance writers, you get a couple of big ones a year -- RT Convention and RWA's convention. Probably there are others, but I have to admit knowing much less about the romance process for finding an agent.)

Once you've got your list of prospective people, I recommend checking out their web pages, if they have them, and see what Predators & Editors has to say about them. If they have a web site, be sure to take note of what kind of package they want sent, whether or not you can simultaneously submit, etc, and FOLLOW THE RULES.

I should say that I found my first agent the old fashioned way... I got a recommendation from a professional writer friend. These are hard to come by because you have to be the sort of person who can effectively schmooze (without oozing) professional authors and get them to lend their name to your cover letter.

The cover letter is probably worth a post of its own, though you can find lots of advice out there. A quick search produced this: writing tips: the cover letter/query. I'm sure there are dozens more out there.

The other piece of advice: come up with strategies to deal with rejection. It's a fact of writing life. Persistence is more important than talent.

Newbie Question #9

9. How do you decide on a title for your book?

Titles are funny things. My first agent told me, “Don’t get attached to the title you picked.” My first agent had a famous client who recognized that he just wasn’t any good at titles and sent each of his novels in to his publisher named “n1”, “n2,” etc. (“n” being “novel.”)

Yet, with three notable exceptions, I’ve always ended up with the title I picked.

Again, I’m mostly working off anecdotal information, but my sense is that first novels often get re-titled. It’s hard to think like a publicity/marketing committee, and that’s who ends up approving the title. The original title for my alter-ego’s debut science fiction novel about angels was, “Dancing on the Head of a Pin.” It was sort of clever, but as my editor pointed out – if I wanted my name to appear on the spine of the book, it had to be shorter. Good motivation!

The marketing department came up with some alternative titles to consider, but I felt that they, well, sounded too marketing department-esque (no offense to marketing committees anywhere!) So, I begged my editor for forty-eight hours to come up with something snappier. I asked my friends who had read the book. I asked my partner for help. I got some great suggestions, but in the end I went with my partner’s suggestion: “Archangel Protocol.”

The way Shawn came up with the title was simple. She’s naturally a list-maker, so she sat down with a pen and paper and made one column of words related to angels. The second column had computer terms. Anything she could think of. Then she started putting them together until she got one that fit. This worked beautifully for the entire series: “Fallen Host,” “Messiah Node,” “Apocalypse Array,” and, the one I’m currently working on, “Resurrection Code.”

This method worked less well for my romances because we were saddled with two problems – the marketing folks really wanted the word “dead” to appear in every subsequent title and for it to be sort of a twist on a familiar cliché, like “Tall, Dark & Dead.” (Which, incidentally, I just came up with on my own by looking through a common phrase book for ideas, and then I did the all important Google search to see how many other books already had that title. I found one from 1958 and thought it would be okay to use again after all that time.) When we got stuck, I polled my FB friends; I posted a request for help here and on my other blogs. One of my favorite titles, “Dead If I Do” came from my friend Susan Harris’s response to a LJ plea.

I ended up having to change two of my Tate titles. The first one was “Dead Sexy,” which I’d originally called “Drop-Dead Gorgeous,” which you probably recognize as a recent MaryJanice Davidson title. I was two thirds the way through writing that book when I happened to read a recent releases column in Romantic Titles, which sent me into a scramble to re-title.

The second time, I was simply out-voted by the marketing folks. I’d initially wanted “Romancing the Dead” to be “Dead on Arousal” (my friend Sean M. Murphy’s most-AWESOME suggestion.) In the end, I think people thought the original was maybe a bit too provocative/sexy… who knows?

I think that having a good title to start with can be a good thing, but, obviously, it’s not necessary in order to sell. I tell title stories in classes I teach on writing, because I think it’s important to remember when you’re first starting out not to “sweat the small stuff.” You could waste a lot of time tweaking a perfect title only to have the marketing department tell you it’s a no-go.

It’s much, much more important to write a good, strong book. And remember: zen and the art of novel writing -- you’re responsible for the stuff between the covers. Make it the best you can, and let go of the rest.

Newbie Question #8

8. How do you decide how long a book should be?

I stop when I get to the end of the story.

But I suspect this is actually a question about industry standards, so here's what they are, according to the Nebula Awards:

Novel: a work of 40,000 words or more*
Novella: a work of at least 17,500 words but under 40,000 words
Novelette: a work of at least 7,500 words but under 17,500 words
Short story: a work of under 7,500 words

I should note that for anyone other than the Nebula judges 40,000 words is actually a really, really short novel. I don't think many publishers would accept a novel that was only 40,000 words -- though readers of this blog should feel free to prove me wrong.

My sense is that the average novel length these days (which, during the course my career to-date, has actually grown a lot shorter) is 80,000 words or longer (with the exception of young adult novels which can be as short as 60,000.)

I know that a lot of newbie writers have a hard time visualizing how many pages 80,000 words is -- but you can pick up any of my Tate Hallaway books and see how it translates into a printed book. A manuscript will, if you follow manuscript format, be a lot longer.

Questions? Comments? Spam?

Newbie Question #7

7. How do you set up your books? Do you outline them first or do you have an idea and just go with it?

That question has changed for me as my career has advanced, and, in some rare cases, on a book by book basis. So my initial answer is, "Yes. Both. All. None."

Before I go into an explanation of that, I will tell you that I'm a big fan of "pre-thinking," however you might choose to do that. It's my anecdotal experience that successful writers "pre-think" on some level. For some, this means a detailed synopsis/outline. I know of another writer who writes out idea trees/notes on butcher paper stuck to his walls. I've been to workshops that promote an organic brainstorming system.

I think all these methods have varying degrees of usefulness for me. There are some I personally resist: note cards (I lose them), strict outlines (I abandon them with glee.) BUT, just because they don't work for me, doesn't mean they won't work for you.

However you choose to organize your thoughts, I think it's incredibly helpful (particularly for a new writer) to have a pretty good idea of where your story is going before you write it. A dear friend and mentor, Joan Vinge likens her process to a road trip. She says she might not even know who is coming with her (characters), but she's planning to go from New York to California (just to stretch the metaphor a bit.) All sorts of unexpected things might happen along the way, but as long as she keeps her destination in mind, she can keep going forward. The story may end before they get to their metaphorical California, but the idea of going there has kept the story on track. For someone like me who is very organic in my thinking and process, I loved this idea because it freed me from the restriction of a rigid outline, but allowed me to consider the bones of my story and where I wanted to go with it BEFORE I STARTED.

I know, too, that a big concern for a lot of new writers is the idea of writing themselves into a corner. First of all, it has always been my contention there is no corner so tight that an author can't break a wall to get their characters out... but I also understand that the root of the fear is based on worrying that you'll get stalled because you don't know where to go with a certain plot line. "Pre-thinking" helps. If you have a note card, note book, scribbles, a diagram, an outline to go back and refer to, you less likely to get stuck.

Anything that keeps the story moving and the writer writing is a good, good thing.

But, back to your original question. These days I outline. Most of the books I write are sold on proposal. The proposal is a detailed (usually for me about 12 pages) synopsis that tells the beginning, middle and end and hits the emotional highlights for the main characters. What's left out is the subplots (and the surprises, because, with me, there are always some.)

However, I'm also writing a novel for a small press right now where, as I told my writer friend Naomi Kritzer, I'm writing without a net. I have no idea where the story is going.... and it's working. It's the kind of novel, however, that I have to mentally work overtime on. Literally. I dream about it. When I'm working out, ideas hit me. It's a very different (and much messier) process than I've gotten used to. But it tells me something, too. The just running with the idea method works for me for this book. So it might work for you.

I will leave you with this thought, though. I often encourage my students to try some method of pre-thinking because, let's face it, new writers have a lot of challenges to face. These questions you ask are just the surface of them. So, if you have an ace up your sleeve of a solid storyline that you know has a beginning, middle, and end, that's one less thing to worry about, you know?

Just a thought, Mr. Fox.

Newbie Question #6

6. How do you, when writing dialogue, make sure that each character sounds like a unique person?

Start with distinct, unique characters.

One thing I'm probably going to end up saying over and over during the course of this series is that conflict = drama. My suspicion is that if you're getting the critique that your characters all sound the same it's because they're difficult to tell apart for other reasons as well. They all come from the same socio-economic class. They're all the same ethnicity/race/(or in the case of science fiction/urban fantasy) species. They have the same agenda/goals. In other words, they have too much in common.

Romances are rarely exciting (to me, at least,) if a lady is marrying a lord she's perfectly suitable for. Better, IMHO, that she's totally smitten by the gardener/slave-gladiator/space pirate/rogue, etc. who is not only so WRONG for her (on the surface, of course), but completely outside of her expected socio-economic pairing.

If you've got a high class princess and a slave-gladiator in the same room talking to each other and they sound the same, then, I'm sorry to say: you're just not thinking.

The slave-gladiator isn't going to use fifteen dollar words, because he likely wasn't educated (if he was, your princess ought to be shocked and there better be a fascinating reason for it). Even if he was once a great lord/general/etc., his life now will probably be rougher and his language ought to show it. More swear words (or their equivalent). Less philosophical debate, more show me the money, as it were.

And, honestly, that's one of the easiest "tricks" (if you really need one). Make your heroine a space commander who uses crisp, militaristic sparse sentences. "Come. Now."

Meanwhile, your hero is a total fop of a space pirate that he uses twenty, lovely poetic words when he could use two. "Darling, only if you press those pert lips against my lily white a$$."

If you really KNOW your characters and their background this won't be difficult. Even if by some accident of plot you have two people (or more) together who are all from the exact same place and time, as long as they all have different agendas they will "sound" different because the reader will know who is who by who wants what.

Newbie Question #5

5. What do you consider the most important principle of fiction?

This is a good one, and I'd love to start a discussion about it because I'm not sure I have a ready answer.

My first impulse is to quote Stunk & White: Be Bold. Be Clear.

But I'm not sure that's a "principle," per se. I know that when I was first starting out, I spent a lot of time arguing with other genre writers about the importance of clarity. Some people thought that it was more important to be clever. They thought my preference for understandability meant that I wanted to appeal to the least common denominator, sell my soul for commercial success, and otherwise abandon the craft.

For me, the issue was that I wanted to tell a story that would be heard/read.

Ironically, the people with whom I had this argument are also commerically published now, so I guess that in the end clever and clarity aren't nearly as mutually exclusive as I first thought.

But I don't think that's really what's being asked here. I think you want to know what aspect of the craft you should concentrate on the most: plot, character, or what have you.

My answer is still the same. In the interest of being bold and clear, focus on story telling in general. Maybe for you that means you need to strengthen your characters. For me, it meant learning everything about plot... (because that's my weakest area.)

What do the rest of you think?

Newbie Question #4

4. How do you get ideas for stories?

A lot writers have weighed in on this question, but I love Neil Gaiman's response, and I respectfully suggest you read what he has to say.

The joke answer "from an idea factory in Schenectady [New York]" has been attributed to a number of science fiction writers from Ray Bradbury to Harlan Ellison.

My own answer builds on what Gaiman says in his essay, which is, essentially, ask questions and let those questions lead you to more questions. My addition is: cultivate a sense of wonder.

I will admit that I'm not one of those writers that complain of having not enough time for all the ideas brimming over in their mind. I often actually have to sit down and coax ideas out of my head. (Characters... now THOSE I often have to spare -- all waiting impatiently in my head for their story to come to me.) When I'm starting a proposal, I'll pull out pen and paper and start scribbling out thoughts. If I have a character in mind, I might just start by asking myself the simple question: "What's the worst thing that could happen to this person?" and start there. Because in order to answer that question I have to know what's important to the character, the "what's at stake?" question which leads nicely to conflict which is the heart of drama.

But when I'm not on a deadline for a story idea, I cultivate a sense of wonder by reading everything I can get my hands on. I read fiction. I read non-fiction on any subject that attracts me (I have a whole book, for instance, on the history of grave robbing that, believe it or not, has worked into my vampire stories.) As a former science fiction writer, I also read popular science -- well, literally, as I'm a long time subscriber to the magazine Popular Science.

I also think that story generation is easier if you're the kind of person who looks at the world and automatically thinks: "Huh, I wonder why things are this way?" or "Why is that person who s/he is?"

So the short answer is... be open, ask questions... and wait. My friend and mentor Maureen McHugh once said that ideas are like pearls. They start as a grit of something that gets into your mind and slowly other thing attach themselves to that initial bit, becoming nacre. Sometimes you just end up with a dirty oyster, but sometimes you get pearls.

Newbie Question #3

3. Did you have any formal training in order to become a writer? Classes? A degree?

The short answer is no.

I do, by chance, have undergraduate degrees in English and history, but I didn't take any class in creative writing during college that wasn't a requirement for graduation. Later, I took a game-changing class in writing science fiction and fantasy as an adult learner at a place called The Loft, but I'll talk about that in a second.

I think that more important than taking classes about the craft of writing is the act of reading. If you want to write, you MUST read. You should read everything you possibly can in any genre that excites you. Ideally, you should read widely in non-fiction as well.

I think that you can learn a ridiculous amount about our craft by reading. Now that *I* teach the occasional beginners' class on writing, I've found that people who read voraciously often have a "natural" ear for writing. (I put natural in quotes, because I think that the idea of talent is suspect, and that most people who come off as having innate talent actually have been students of the craft in some other way, such as being an intense readers or growing up in a house full of story-tellers, etc.)

BUT that being said, I think that a person can benefit greatly from a class in writing. Genre writers often face an uphill battle in academic settings, so I caution you to be prepared to defend your genre (espeically if you write SF/F/H) if your only option for a class in writing involves a university. People local to me (Minneapolis/St. Paul) are extremely fortunate because the Loft exists here. There's also a reallly strong community education/adult education culture in this area, so non-university options are out there for us... and possibly for you, if you dig around. If you are interested in writing science fiction specifically, there are workshops like Clarion that you can pay to attend. Romance writers, should also keep an eye on their local Romance Writer's of America chapter, because very often they offer writing workshops that can be invaluable.

As I said above, I took a class that transformed my life. I'm not even using hyperbole when I say that. I can absolutely credit that class with the beginning of my professional career for a number of reasons. First of all, since I started out as a science fiction writer, I learned a ton about the conventions of my genre. I also learned how to submit my writing (which is a process that can be extremely hard to fathom as an outsider.) But, most importantly for me, I learned the skill of critique and was introduced to peers who became my teachers, my friends, my support group, my gossip klatch, my lifeline.

Out of my class, I started a writers group* that still meets to this day and of which I am still a member, Wyrdsmiths. What I learned on an every-other-week basis from my peers was no less than transformative. In Wyrdsmiths, I settled down to the business of learning to hone my craft.

Wyrdsmiths was my informal, formal education, and I still study at their feet. I don't think you can ever stop improving your craft, and Wyrdsmiths is where I go to do that.

So the long answer: yes. Lots and lots of training....

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* My alter-ego wrote a very detailed article about how to start a genre writers' group for "The Broadsheet." You can find it here: Broadsheet Archives.

German Cover Art

Just out of total curiosity I Googled my German title NICHT SCHON WIEDER EIN VAMPIR and got this hit for cover art. Awesome, no?

And, yes, I finished my article for "Love Letter" the German Romantic Times. Actually, I was saved by the fact that I was asked to do something like this for my British release, only they never used what I wrote. So I polished and updated the older one, and viola as they say in another one of those European countries.

Newbie Question #2*

2. How do you come up with character’s names?

Ah, yes…. Naming. If you ask me names have magic.

I tend to spend an inordinate amount of time considering Names. I have several “Baby Name” books at home (and did, years before actually having a baby to name.) There are several baby name websites out there, some which are even organized by “most popular baby names for 1976” or even 1796, so you can use them for your historical novels, as well.

Also, because I was writing before the Interwebs, I also use this analog thing called a PHONE BOOK. There are other books (and web sites) out there for surnames, but if you live in a big enough city the phone book can be fun for diverse and ethnic last names. I actually chose my pseudonym using the random finger point method and the phone book – my publisher was very insistent that I have a last name that started with an “Ha” to put me next to other vampire writers like Harrison, Harris, Hamilton, etc.

Once I have these resources in front of me, I make a list of names I like the sound of. I make a second column of surnames that sound nifty. Then I spend days (even weeks) mulling over the combinations. If I’m on a really tight deadline, I’ll start writing with [fill-in name], but I find that the name I end up picking really imbues the character with a lot of life. For instance a Darcy Farthingworth is likely going to behave differently from a Shin Yu. Maybe not, but… you can see what I mean, I hope.

That’s the other thing that I love to do: play with expectations. Sometimes I do crazy things like naming my Sunni Muslim computer hacker “Christian,” because it instantly requires me to consider how he ended up with a name like that… and suddenly I’m character building, as it were.

Also, I think it’s important when you have several characters on scene to make sure they’re not all sporting names that sound similar. Jane, Jack, and John, for instance, might be hard for a reader to keep straight in their heads, especially if you’re in the middle of a scene comprised mostly of intense dialogue between the three of them. If you have a Walter, Ahmed, and Helena it might be slightly easier. (You still will need to make sure they don’t all speak in the same voice, but I see that’s a later question so I’ll save talking about that for now.)

Pick names you want to spend time with. I think naming is one of the most fun things writers get to do, so enjoy it!

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* x-posted from Wyrdsmiths' blog

Questions from a Newbie

I came into the office (aka Amore Coffee) this morning and discovered a lovely email from a young woman who is considering writing her first novel. She sent me a list of twenty-two questions about writing craft and publication, and rather than send back an email large enough to crash a server, I thought I'd answer them one by one here:

1. How do you develop your characters? Are they people you know?

I think that if you want write believable characters it helps to be a kind of Sherlock Holmes in real life. Not necessarily the Robert Downey, Jr., pugilist version, but rather a keen observer of human nature.

Or schizophrenic.

I joke about that last bit because one of the tricks I often use when writing characters is to ask myself the question: "If I was that person in that situation, how would *I* react?" (This can be a bit embarrassing when, later, you show that scene to your writers' critique group and they explain how galatically stupid your character is behaving.) However, I think this trick can work... but only if you can really stretch your imagination in a way that might include, for instance, you being an alien or of the opposite gender or of a different social-economic class or a vampire or.... you get the picture.

Which might lead you back to Holmes...

When I draw on real people, I tend not to borrow them wholesale from reality. What I do, instead, is smoosh together traits I've observed in a several of my friends (or even family, although drawing on your family can be dangerous if only because they're always looking for themselves in your work even when you intentionally avoid putting them there.)

I think the most important trick to remember when developing a character is to think about how weird we all really are, how diverse, how interesting -- and capitalize on that wherever you can.

What I mean is -- nobody is ever just one thing. A soldier is more than his or her orders or rank. She might be a failed opera singer. He might secretly read romances. Her father might have taught her to sail. His sister might be a lesbian.

The possiblities are endless. Though you don't want to just throw in quirk to be quirky or you run the risk of coming off like late season "Gilmore Girls" and stretching the OTHER edge of credibility. For myself, I try to bring out the weird so that it serves my plot in some way. Back to the soldier example, I might try to think up some issue that would put my character in direct conflict with an order. What if this was a future where being gay was outlawed? Having the soldier have to deal with his own family would make his life more complicated. Then you build on those complicaitons. What kind of relationship does s/he have with his/her sister? Is it a good one or bad? Which would lead to the hardest decision for our soldier hero/ine? That's the one you choose. IMHO, complications are critical to believable characters (and plot motion, but that might be a discussion for another time.)

To be a good storyteller, you have to be willing to torture your characters. Giving them an easy life kills drama.

I Need Help

I'm sitting at the coffee shop this morning banging my head. I'll tell you why. I've got about three days to write an article about "the Wiccan aspects of your series..." for the German equivalent of Romantic Times to help promote NICHT SCHON WIEDER EIN VAMPIR (Not Another Vampire) aka TALL, DARK & DEAD.

First of all, I *suck* at writing non-fiction. They only want 500 words, which is really, nothing, but it might as well be 500,000 for as difficult as I'm finding this. Secondly, Wicca? Really? Next to vampires, that's probably the subject I'm most bored of (particularly in its promotional aspect of Wicca 101). Third, the topic is too broad, and this is where I really would love some advice from you, gentle reader.

I'm sure there are a ton of you folks out there who are not only good at writing articles, but are experts. What's a good element of "Wiccan aspects of my novels" I could focus on and make snappy/interesting? If you were a German reader, what would you want to know to make you run out an buy TALL, DARK & DEAD (or Not Another Vampire, as the case might be)?

Someone at the coffee shop suggested I surf the Interwebs for similar articles. Good advice, only I just wasted a half hour reading about things that interest me and not really finding anything to inspire this little promotional piece.

Help!!

LEGOs and a New Laptop

Santa was very nice to our family. Mason got more LEGOs than he could possibly ever need, and I got a new .mp3 player (mine broke) and a new laptop. I'd been doing pretty well with the Mac that was given to me by friend and fellow writer Eleanor Arnason, but, I'm a PC girl, alas. More importantly, Penguin is PC. In order to do my revisions, I really needed a PC. Strangely, I feel guilty about this. I mean, I watch TV. I know Mac people are more cool than the PC folks.

Santa, however, neglected my most important wish. I am STILL hacking up a lung. I do seem to be improving, but it may be time to bite the financial bullet and go to the doctor (hang the expense!)

Even though Mason is off school for the next week, I'm back to "work" tomorrow. I have the last half of ALMOST TO DIE FOR to finish revising, and then my alter ego has a very tight deadline for the small press book she's been struggling with for over a year now (RESURRECTION CODE, aka "The Mouse Book").

Mason has taken to teasing me about the phone call my alter ego got from her editor/publisher and every once and a while he randomly pipes up with, "Uh, about that Mouse book...." implying that I need to get to work on it, least I face another phone call like that one.

Hope you and yours had a happy holiday of your choice!

Recovering... Sort of

Ugh. I have been so sick. This is now week three of a bad cough that I just can't seem to shake. (I should probably go to the doctor, but, like many people in this country, I don't have decent health insurance. I have "catastrophic" coverage, so if I'm ever hit by a bus, I won't be bankrupted, but the deductible is so high I might as well not have any.)

Also in deference to the holidays (for me, Solstice), I've taken a break from working on my revisions for ALMOST. Now I'm back at work and I'm having such a rough time getting motivated. My editor has been so good about putting in notes like, "A little more explanation here?" that I feel kind of guilty that my first impulse this morning is to write, "No."

Plus, I had a near heart attack this morning (emotionally, speaking,) because a friend of mine wrote to me inquiring if I had any copies of Tall, Dark & Dead to sell her. Seems a friend of hers was looking to get his daughter hooking on a new vampire series after having devoured the Twilight series, and she suggested me. Only, when her friend went to find my books at his local, independent bookstore, he was told they couldn't get copies and thought TDD must be out of print.

Now Penguin has its faults, but they have always been really good about letting me know when my books are being remaindered so I can have a chance to buy some of the remaining stock before the books vanish off the face of the earth. (This is how my alter ego is able to still supply our local bookstore with copies of her OOP books, lo, these many years later.) So I was kind of shocked by this news. I quick fired off a "eek!" email to my editor (luckily, I didn't sound grumpy, just confused,) and she wrote back and told me that my panic was for naught. Tall, Dark & Dead is still in print. They have over a thousand copies at the warehouse waiting for some independent bookstore to make a request. She figured my friends' friend was dealing with a bookstore that uses a distributor that doesn't deal directly with Penguin and that the distributor was temporarily out of stock. Sending us all into unnecessary panic.

I assume the news of remaindering is on its way soon enough, though. With the series dead, I can't imagine the books will remain in print too much longer after the book comes out next May. I should start budgeting for a few boxes, as depressing as that might seem. I'd much rather be ready for the news.

Anyway, I hope you all had a good Yule/Solstice. I sure did. My parents (who are secular humanists/Unitarians) came up to celebrate with us on Sunday. They brought Mason all sorts of snow goodies, which is quite appropriate given the storms that are supposed to roll through here soon. I got some awesome loot myself: a year's subscription to InTouch (which I love for its trashiness) and well as money on my coffee card and a couple of Captain America tee-shirts.

The Urge to Click*

One of the things that often surprises my students is that, until very recently, every bit of editing that happened to my manuscript was on paper. My editor might email me her comments, but after that I was expected to do them and then print out two copies and mail them to New York. (One stayed with my editor, the other went to a copy editor).

Until very recently (like within the last two years), I would get a copy edited manuscript back with post-it notes stuck all over it where the copy editor or editor had questions for me to address. I was expected to make changes in a colored pencil on the paper where I could (or reprint a page or two if I had to) and mail it back.

Weird, huh?

Now, finally, and for the first time, I got back a commented/track changed manuscript electronically as my _editorial letter_.

Penguin has been starting to do this for copy edited manuscripts, but this is my first back-and-forth that's just between me and my editor. I think I complained here (or perhaps elsewhere) that I wasn't necessarily fond of the new electronic copy editing, if only because the temptation to fire back snarky commentary to the occasional dense question from a copy editor was VERY STRONG. When there were post-it notes to scribble on, it was much easier to resist. I had to pick up a pencil and crib out some long rant. Now it's a click away. Much harder to remain professional. Though I managed to do it -- I think.

However, I find I'm liking the track changes editorial letter. I'm getting a much better line-by-line sense of what my editor had trouble with and, I find, more compliments dashed in here and there. The "ha! funny line!" bits, even for an old hand like me, still go a long way. My editor's standard e-mail editorial letter always had a line in there about how I gave her a great read and all that, but, you know, it feels more real when I can see where she put in positive comments.

Plus, the urge to respond to comments here is very different. It feels more like a conversation with my editor. She tends to start out with, "What do you think of..." which naturally calls for a response both in the text and in the comments field. Of course it helps that I have a long, well-established relationship with her, and I tend to trust her judgement. :-)

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* x-posted from Wyrdsmiths

Busy Week Ahead

No rest for the Wiccan, as the book cover says!

Srsly, I just got back my editorial notes from my editor for ALMOST TO DIE FOR. It's actually going to involve more than just a little tweaking. We're talking about adding another whole scene, which I'd considered but never figured out how to add in... (my editor can be surprisingly clever about such things.)

Plus, I got that call every writer dreads from my small press editor: "So, hey, [alter ego] about that book you're already over deadline on...." (No pressure!) Yikes. But I spent this weekend with a calendar and some serious consideration and I think I have a good answer for him, so I'm off to write that "Dear sir, I'm a total failure, but please spare me another couple more months..." (the check is in the mail!) e-mail.

Egad.

Oh, yeah, and I'm ridiculously sick. I have this cough I can't shake that morphed into some kind of weird sinus-y mess. Hooray.

Cough and a Proposal

At some point this weekend, I developed a hacking cough. No other sympthoms, just an annoying hack that hurts all the way down to the pit of your stomach. Bleah.

Today I'm hoping to get to work on a proposal idea I've had in my brain for an adult series for several months now. I'm have some problems coming up with some plot points, but I think I may actually break out "TAROT FOR WRITERS" and see what the cards suggest. Why not, eh?

Surviving the hack and getting some writing done are my big plans for the week. You?

Available for Pre-Order

Even though the copy edits are sitting on my desk ready for me to work on, I discovered that you can already pre-order HONEYMOON OF THE DEAD, the last in the Garnet Lacey chronicles on Amazon.com.

Get Your Tickets NOW!*

In my other persona as a science fiction author, I'm often asked to sit on panels where a bunch of us extol the virtues of being a science fiction writer/fan in these Twin Towns (seriously, there are lot of SF writers in Minneapolis/St. Paul). So I'm used to telling people we ARE the awesome, but even I did not realize the depths of our amazingness. Check this (this is NOT a joke):

The Mixed Blood Theater in Minneapolis will be presenting A Klingon Christmas Carol. The production runs from November 27th until December 13rd. Ticket prices are $18 for adults and $14 for students and seniors.

The best part is from the Mixed Blood site:

Scrooge has no honor, nor any courage. Can three ghosts help him to become the true warrior he ought to be in time to save Tiny Tim from a horrible fate? Performed in the Original Klingon with English Supertitles, and narrative analysis from The Vulcan Institute of Cultural Anthropology.

The classic Dickensian tale of ghosts and redemption adapted to reflect the Warrior Code of Honor and then translated into tlhIngan Hol (That’s the Klingon Language).

A co-production of Commedia Beauregard and the IKV RakeHell of the Klingon Assault Group.

Okay, not only is it a retelling, but it's also IN Klingon (with Vulcan commentary). How can you not love that? It's like we live somewhere between reality and ficition.

--- *x-posted from Wyrdsmiths

Oh, hi... How Long Have You Been Standing There?

I know, I know. I've been a terrible blogger.

I had a nice Thanksgiving with family and friends and a dead bird and all the trimmings, and now it's time to get back to work and I'm really not relishing it, I'm afraid.

This morning, in my in-box, was the copy-edited manuscript for HONEYMOON OF THE DEAD. I managed to transfer it to my PC (I'm a Mac user these days for a laptop), look at it to see if all the formatting came through, and then, with a sigh, closed everything up. I have fourteen days to get this all done, but just not up for it today... on a Monday, after a nice, long, relaxing holiday.

I also need to get going on proposals for a new adult series. I think you've probably read that before if you've checked my blog at all in the past month, so you know exactly how far behind I am on THAT little project too.

sigh.

Some Mondays are harder than others.

What are YOU doing?

Sorry I haven't posted much lately, but I really haven't had very much happening.

Mason is at home for one of his "intersessions," which means I've been very busy playing video games. I did turn 42 last Wednesday, which, as many of you know, is the answer to life, the universe, and everything.

I also need to work on my proposals for some new adult series to replace Garnet, but I have to admit that my heart isn't in it. I think, perhaps, I'm still mourning.

How about you?

Writing with Children

My son Mason is home for fall break. He has a year-round school, and so, several times a year, he has a couple of weeks off when no one else does. Some people will be getting off for Thanksgiving, but he's off now for two weeks... which has ground my writing to a halt. I'd meant to spend this last weekend finally working up a proposal or two for a new adult series (I had a flash of an idea while driving everyone to work the other day that involves an accountant to a vampire) but I muffed it. I spent the weekend instead, enjoying the sunshine and raking leaves.

Which isn't exactly Mason's fault, but I'm hoping to pin it on him, anyway. :-)

Today I also spent outside, in the sun, so I'm sure that's his fault too.

Hmph. Okay, obviously, I have time to blog, so I probably have time to write. But do you ever find that it's easier to do things that can be interrupted when kids are around? I could get started writing, but I hate it when I'm in the groove and suddenly there's some crisis or other and I have to get up to take care of it. It's hard to get back in the mood, as it were. Then again, I used to write on the job and I never seemed to mind little interruptions then.

I've talked to other stay-at-home writers and at least one agrees that she got more writing done when she had a nine-to-five. I think when we had our "real jobs" both of us felt much more comfortable carving out a minute here and there (stealing time from "the man") than we do taking time away from family obligations (even things like dishes, etc.)

Well, I'm off... to bake a chocolate beer cake. (seriously!)

Writing Date that Wasn't Much Writing

Monday has become my social writing day. I get together with two other local writers (Naomi Kritzer and Eleanor Arnason) at a coffee shop here in Saint Paul and we, in the parlance of parenting magazines, "parallel play." We each pull out our laptops and write. Usually, there isn't much chatting other than a pleasant "hello" or "so what are you working on?" but, yesterday, for some reason, we were all feeling like talking.

I suppose I should consider yesterday some kind of a failure, but I don't.

There's something really important about face time with other professionally minded writers, even if we only end up talking about good places to dine out. Especially since, by chance, all of us that get together are currently "at home" due to choice or unemployment. Getting out of the house at all is important in those situations, I think. The writing life can become awfully insular otherwise.

Good friends and strong coffee are the fiber of a good life, I think.

Blessed be.

Monday Morning, WIP

Not much to report, really. I finished up my revisions for the last Garnet Lacey book and sent them off. Now I'm waiting on the editorial letter for ALMOST TO DIE FOR, the first of the new young adult series, and to hear what my agent thinks of the little paragraph pitches I sent her of ideas for new contemporary urban fantasy adult books.

You?

In about an hour or so, I'm off to go pick up my friend and fellow author Eleanor Arnason and we're going to head to a coffee shop to write together. It's amazing to me how much more I get done when I'm sitting across from someone who appears to be working diligently on something. I don't know if Eleanor is over there playing Solitaire, but she looks so serious that I feel I should be too. It's clever of us, really.